網頁圖片
PDF
ePub 版

LAF. So you were a knave at his service, indeed. CLO. And I would give his wife my bauble, fir, to do her service."

LAF. I will fubfcribe for thee; thou art both knave and fool.

CLO. At your fervice.

LAF. No, no, no.

CLO. Why, fir, if I cannot ferve you, I can serve as great a prince as you are.

6 I would give his wife my bauble, fir, to do her fervice.] Part of the furniture of a fool was a bauble, which, though it be generally taken to fignify any thing of fmall value, has a precife and determinable meaning. It is, in fhort, a kind of truncheon with a head carved on it, which the fool anciently carried in his hand. There is a reprefentation of it in a picture of Watteau, formerly in the collection of Dr. Mead, which is engraved by Baron, and called Comediens Italiens. A faint resemblance of it may be found in the frontifpiece of L. de Guernier to King Lear, in Mr. Pope's edition in duodecimo. SIR J. HAWKINS. So, in Marston's Dutch Courtefan, 1604:

66

if a fool, we must bear his bauble."

Again, in The Two Angry Women of Abingdon, 1599: "The fool will not leave his bauble for the Tower of London Again, in Jack Drum's Entertainment, 1601:

"She is enamoured of the fool's bauble."

In the STULTIFERA NAVIS, 1497, are feveral representations of this inftrument, as well as in Cocke's Lorel's Bote, printed by Wynkyn de Worde. Again, in Lyte's Herbal: "In the hollowness of the faid flower (the great blue wolfe's-bane) grow two fmall crooked hayres, fomewhat great at the end, fafhioned like a fool's bable." An ancient proverb, in Ray's collection, points out the materials of which thefe baubles were made: "If every fool fhould wear a bable, fewel would be dear." See figure 12, in the plate at the end of The First Part of King Henry IV. with Mr. Tollet's explanation. STEEVENS.

The word bauble is here ufed in two fenfes. The Clown had another bauble befides that which the editor alludes to. M. MASON.

When Cromwell, 1653, forcibly turned out the rump-parliament, he bid the foldiers" take away that fool's bauble," pointing to the speaker's mace. BLACKSTONE.

LAF. Who's that? a Frenchman?

7

CLO. Faith, fir, he has an English name; but his phifnomy is more hotter in France, than there." LAF. What prince is that?

CLO. The black prince," fir, alias, the prince of darkness; alias, the devil.

LAF. Hold thee, there's my purfe: I give thee not this to fuggeft thee from thy mafter thou talk'ft of; serve him ftill.

CLO. I am a woodland fellow, fir, that always loved a great fire;' and the mafter I fpeak of, ever keeps a good fire. But, fure, he is the prince of the

7 an English name;]

The old copy reads maine.

Corrected by Mr. Rowe.

MALONE.

STEEVENS.

Maine, or head of hair, agrees better with the context than name. His hair was thick. HENLEY.

8

We

his phifnomy is more hotter in France, than there.] This is intolerable nonfenfe. The ftupid editors, because the devil was talked of, thought no quality would fuit him but botter. fhould read, more honour'd. A joke upon the French people, as if they held a dark complexion, which is natural to them, in more eftimation than the English do, who are generally white and fair. WARBURTON,

The allufion is, in all probability, to the Morbus Gallicus.

STEEVENS.

9 The black prince,] Bishop Hall, in his Satires, B. V. Sat. ii. has given the fame name to Pluto: "So the black prince is broken loofe againe," &c. HOLT WHITE.

to fuggeft thee from thy mafter-] Thus the old copy. The modern editors read-feduce, but without authority. To fuggeft had anciently the fame meaning. So, in The Two Gentlemen of Verona:

[ocr errors]

Knowing that tender youth is foon fuggefted,

,,

"I nightly lodge her in an upper tower.' STEEVENS. 3 I am a woodland fellow, fir, &c.] Shakspeare is but rarely guilty of fuch impious trafh. And it is obfervable, that then he always puts that into the mouth of his fools, which is now grown the characteristic of the fine gentleman. WARBURTON.

world,' let his nobility remain in his court. I am for the house with the narrow gate, which I take to be too little for pomp to enter: fome, that humble themselves, may; but the many will be too chill and tender; and they'll be for the flowery way, that leads to the broad gate, and the great fire.*

LAF. Go thy ways, I begin to be a-weary of thee; and I tell thee fo before, because I would not fall out with thee. Go thy ways; let my horfes be well look'd to, without any tricks.

CLO. If I put any tricks upon 'em, fir, they shall be jades' tricks; which are their own right by the law of nature.

LAF. A fhrewd knave, and an unhappy."

[Exit.

COUNT. So he is. My lord, that's gone, made himself much sport out of him: by his authority he remains here, which he thinks is a patent for his faucinefs; and, indeed, he has no pace, but runs where he will."

LAF. I like him well; 'tis not amifs: and I was about to tell you, Since I heard of the good lady's

3

But, fure, he is the prince of the world,] I think we should read-But fince he is, &c. and thus Sir T. Hanmer. STEEVENS. the flowery way,and the great fire.] The fame impious ftuff occurs again in Macbeth: " -the primrose way to the everlafting bonfire.' STEEVENS.

5

-unhappy.] i.e. mischievously waggish, unlucky. JOHNSON. So, in King Henry VIII:

"You are a churchman, or, I'll tell you, cardinal,

"I should judge now unhappily." STEEVENS.

6 So he is. My lord, that's gone, made himself much sport out of him by his authority he remains here, which he thinks is a patent for his faucinefs; and, indeed, he has no pace, but runs where he will.] Should not we read-no place, that is, no ftation, or office in the family? TYRWHITT.

A pace is a certain or prescribed walk; fo we fay of a man meanly obfequious, that he has learned his paces, and of a horse who moves irregularly, that he has no paces. JOHNSON.

death, and that my lord your fon was upon his return home, I moved the king my mafter, to speak in the behalf of my daughter; which, in the minority of them both, his majefty, out of a felf-gracious remembrance, did firft propofe: his highness hath promised me to do it: and, to ftop up the difpleasure he hath conceived against your fon, there is no fitter matter. How does your ladyship like it? COUNT. With very much content, my lord, and I wish it happily effected.

LAF. His highness comes poft from Marseilles, of as able body as when he number'd thirty; he will be here to-morrow, or I am deceived by him that in fuch intelligence hath feldom fail'd.

COUNT. It rejoices me, that I hope I shall see him ere I die. I have letters, that my fon will be here to-night: I fhall befeech your lordship, to remain with me till they meet together.

LAF. Madam, I was thinking, with what manners I might fafely be admitted.

COUNT. You need but plead your honourable privilege.

LAF. Lady, of that I have made a bold charter; but, I thank my God, it holds yet.

Re-enter Clown.

CLO. O madam, yonder's my lord your fon with a patch of velvet on's face: whether there be a scar under it, or no, the velvet knows; but 'tis a goodly. patch of velvet: his left cheek is a cheek of two pile and a half, but his right cheek is worn bare. LAF. A fcar nobly got, or a noble scar, is a good livery of honour: fo, belike, is that.

6

7 Laf. A fear nobly got, &c.] This fpeech in the fecond folio and the modern editions is given to the countefs, and perhaps

CLO. But it is your carbonado'd' face.

LAF. Let us go fee your fon, I pray you; I long to talk with the young noble foldier.

CLO. 'Faith, there's a dozen of 'em, with delicate fine hats, and most courteous feathers, which bow the head, and nod at every man.

[Exeunt.

[blocks in formation]

Enter HELENA, Widow, and DIANA, with two Attendants.

HEL. But this exceeding pofting, day and night, Muft wear your fpirits low: we cannot help it; But, fince you have made the days and nights as one, To wear your gentle limbs in my affairs,

Be bold, you do fo grow in my requital,
As nothing can unroot you. In happy time

rightly. It is more probable that the fhould have fpoken thus favourably of Bertram, than Lafeu. In the original copy, to each of the fpeeches of the countefs Lad. or La. [i. e. Lady] is prefixed; fo that the mistake was very eafy. MALONE.

I do not discover the improbability of this commendation from Lafeu, who is at prefent anxious to marry his own daughter to Bertram. STEEVENS.

7 — carbonado'd-] i. e. fcotched like a piece of meat for the gridiron. STEEVENS.

The word is again used in King Lear. Kent fays to the Steward

8

"I'll carbonado your shanks for you." MALONE. -feathers, which-nod at every man.] So, in Antony and Cleopatra:

[ocr errors]

a blue promontory,

"With trees upon't, that nod unto the world." STEEVENS.

« 上一頁繼續 »